Mountains

December 30, 2010 | Off I-90 East of Snoqualmie Pass

We went skiing to one of our usual places East of Snoqualmie Pass off I-90. There's snow everywhere! I haven't gone in a long time.

There's a military base in the area, and as we were skiing, a fighter jet flew very low overhead. We heard it before we saw it, and we could see it very clearly where trees opened up right above us. I was a fraction of a second too late with my camera. A few minutes later there was another, but we didn't see the second one.

I like the mountains in the distance.

Freezing

December 29, 2010

(12/30) It's freezing here at night, as the fruitless cherry bushes and white roofs tell outside the window. There's been some snow too, but not too much here. There's been a lot of more snow to the North, according to my friends on Facebook, but not as much as when you came. Traffic was normal.

Clay

December 28, 2010 | Tom's house

Left to right: Jerry (Tom's little brother), Tom, Alan.

Alan and I hung out at Tom's house today. I finally got to play Settlers! We also played piano, and I played Tom chess. It was fun. I missed talking to you, though :(

Apparently Tom's mother teaches Chinese at Interlake. This is exciting to me because I've seen videos from my Interlake friends who took Chinese there. Can't find them now, though. They also know a lot about Russia - know the names of the cities and such.

But they don't know that "brick" is "clay". When I said I'll trade two clay... they didn't know what I was talking about. Ha ha.

Mountains

December 28, 2010

Wulai reminded me a lot of Monteverde (Costa Rica). Really the only similarity is that both are situated in green mountains.

We went on a morning hike (through our resort) to a waterfall park which is kind of just a walk leading up to a really large waterfall.

We came back to Taipei in the evening and went to Shilin night market. I would talk more, but my mom is upset that I am still awake. We have to wake up early tomorrow morning. She plans too many things. Aaaargh.

Wulai

December 27, 2010 Waterfalls

So, the crew will be (usually) my brothers, my brother's girlfriend, my mom, and myself. My mom and I were the last to arrive. We went to Wulai which is in the mountains. The trip didn't take long. About an hour to ride the subway and then to catch a taxi. Wulai is gorgeous. It is full of trees.

Snacking

December 26, 2010

So, we arrived in Taiwan at night on the 26th. My mom's friend took us to the origins of soy bean drinks and other things or something. It was all right. Not exactly amazing. But I get excited over food anyway. YAY. The man is pulling something out of the "oven".

Houses

December 27, 2010

Today my sister and I finished the LEGO house she got for Christmas. It's the one on the right. I gave her the one on the left for Christmas two years ago (when I had money from the Google thing). They're like doll houses - you can detach floors, and there's a lot of detail on the inside as well as the outside.

We took three evenings to build - a floor each night. I've been also working on my new computer - I hope to finish copying files tonight.

Internals

December 26, 2010

We played with the new LEGO set this evening - built the first of the three floors, and then worked on my new computer. This is everything put together in the box.

I hope you can put your pictures up soon, the ones from the 24th and the 25th. Oh, and Sandra Luu likes our photo :)

LEGO

December 25, 2010

Our Christmas presents. Except to what you've seen already, there's a panorama puzzle, a "man kit" (which sounds like a weird computer science term), and that LEGO puzzle. LEGO is allowed to be in all-caps because it's awesome.

Christmas

December 25, 2010 Christmas in a (very large) plane

The plane is gigantic! We only had two meals on the plane. :( I watched a bunch of movies and finished a ton of sudoku puzzles. And finished the important parts of the book I am reading (Freakonomics).

Homemade

December 24, 2010 Igor's mom's homemade bread thingy

Igor and I spent the afternoon together. We exchanged gifts. I gave him chocolate which I bought at the last minute. He/You gave me Wuthering Heights and the classic version of Romeo & Juliet. They sound sappy. Hurray!

I'm glad we started filling out that book of us. It was kind of entertaining, though you were confused by the questions (I was not).

Fireplace

December 24, 2010

This is post 1000! This means that our blog has concluded 500 days.

Tomorrow is Christmas. But you will be in the air moving against the Earth and across the date line. You will fly the great circle route: North, perhaps touching the Alaskan islands, then perhaps you will see some of the Eastern Russia, then past Korea and/or Japan, before finally landing in Taipei. You will leave LA after noon on Christmas and arrive in the evening of the next day.

Be safe and have lots of fun in Taiwan. Take lots of pictures! And I'm excited about building my new computer tomorrow. I will share that with you in pictures.

Thanks for the truffles, and enjoy the movies I gave you. Remember today. We played Chinese checkers, had my mom's pirozhki, listened to classical music, and started filling out our little book. Then we played some more and played piano a little, and took pictures like this one.

Happy Christmas from us!

Computer

December 23, 2010

I got a new computer today... it's crazy. I'll list the things here, from left to right: motherboard (main board), CPU (processor), memory, power box (for outages), DVI cable (for monitor), GPU (graphics card), power block, hard drive, DVD drive, PC case. Building this is going to be a lot of fun, and most likely a lot of pain. What's not here: the existing monitor, keyboard and mouse (and camera, microphone, headphones, speakers, etc) and the 64bit Windows 7 that I will need for everything to work. The software's probably not going to be that much fun.

I'm not touching this pile until the 25th. Hopefully by the time Christmas comes I will feel less guilty about getting all of this.

Bright

December 22, 2010 | Bellevue Botanical Gardens

I like close-ups, and these lights look interesting. They're not the plain boring kind you put on your house.

I liked the ants and the tree. Wish there were more ants, though.

Mystery

December 21, 2010

My mom got a package today! First present to go under the tree. The plush Santa is guarding it. Ha ha.

Wonder what's in the box. It'll be a surprise. Probably nothing interesting for me.

Luuuuuu

December 23, 2010 Hanging with the Luu sisters

Helen isn't crying...she's just hiding from the camera. I'm not sure what Sandra is doing. Spent my day at Sandra's house! It was amazing. Really, all we do is watch TV because we're awesome like that.

Dragonflies

December 22, 2010 Garden d'Lights at the Bellevue Botanical Garden

I love dragonflies!

So, we went to a Szechuanese restaurant which I think has potential for greatness, but we must have ordered the wrong dishes. The eggplants were drowning in soy sauce or sodium, and the ants on the tree were essentially absent. Still tasty...just wasn't reasonable.

Afterwards, the garden of lights where I realized that my vision totally sucks even with my glasses! I liked a lot of the flower displays, and the animals were cool.

Take-out

December 21, 2010 Hanging out with mama results in food

So, I went to Target with my mom and got stuck with her all afternoon. I slept in the car...meant to read my book. Anyway, here is food from Sichuanese Cuisine which may look familiar because we order basically THE SAME THING EVERY TIME. And it is AWESOME that way. Left to right: black bean chicken, eggplant in spicy garlic sauce, Mandarin spicy chicken, and dry-cooked string beans. I think my tolerance has changed quite a bit because suddenly the three to the right are not as spicy as I remember them being.

Winter begins!

Potterful

December 20, 2010 | Bellevue Square by Red Mango

We're happy because we just watched Harry Potter, I'm happy because all of us are together, Kevin's friend from China is doing a thumbs up with his left hand since his right hand is busy, and Andrew Chan is half- not paying attention.

This is a record that on December 20 we ate quickly at Pizza Pasta, then saw Harry Potter, then walked around a bit and went home, but more importantly, that the two of us went looking at lights, and that we watched the eclipse progress along the way. We stood outside my house a bit looking at the moon, then knocked on the window and said hi, and I smelled cake. We then stood a bit more, watched the moon through binoculars, and the sky cleared long enough for us to see the edge of the moon, and then to see a fully-eclipsed moon. And we had tea and cake.

And it was a memorable day.

Nutcracker

December 19, 2010 | Somewhere on Mercer Island

Kevin, Hanna, and I went to see the Nutcracker to see Kevin's student perform (she's 6). The ballet was a combination of beautiful, cute, and funny. To the latter, the mice looked like raccoons, the wine glasses were plastic and scotch-tape attached to the tray, and the Nutcracker's huge jaw went up and down - that's while he was protecting the girl from those mice.

After, they took some pictures of "Kevin's kid" with lots of flowers and I was trying to not bump anyone with my backpack - it was packed. You can probably tell. We finally made it out, and stopped at the Chinatown Oasis for bubble tea. I got hot milk tea, but I don't think my stomach liked it very much. Also, I lost at Jenga, twice. :( First time wasn't my fault, I just should have waited a second after Kevin made his move. Second time I should have been more careful trying to balance a ridiculously tall tower of blocks.

Lights

December 20, 2010 Christmas Lights

So, we went to see Harry Potter today with some friends, second time for me. Ohhh, and I got a cookie (and froyo) from the mall. I liked our walk around Igor's neighborhood. Lots of lights. I think my favorite thing to see is the lighted trees in the windows.

Pokemon!

December 19, 2010 Vending Machine

My mom and I went shopping today because she has these ancient gift cards that she never gave away...pretty sure we didn't buy anything at the store in the end. Haha.

So, in the mall, there was a Pokemon stall! It was incredible! I don't think I've ever seen Pokemon plushies IRL! I was very excited.

Flags

December 18, 2010

Only 6 people showed up yesterday, and I was the only officer present, so I got to be in charge of the CTF backpack. Those are our flags. There's also a First Aid kit in the backpack, and there should be a few papers. I haven't really looked.

We use up the flags while playing, but I don't think anyone actually uses the string for anything. Want some? :)

Enchiladas

December 18, 2010 Eating at U. Village

The U. Village is interesting. A bit lacking in food places and everything is a bit expensive. Sandra and I went to Sonrisas ("Modern Mex"). I liked my food, but the salad was awful. Later, we spent our time watching the end of Wall-e, the beginning of Toy Story, and 2 episodes of How I Met Your Mother...while eating green tea ice cream straight from the pint. Love ♥ . We also spent time admiring her hall decorations which are much better than any other hall I've ever seen. At USC, you barely know that the RAs exist sometimes. Maybe not true for the freshmen dorms. Anyway, had a picture, but they weren't so fantastic (of me), so I've saved them for facebook.

DOMO

December 17, 2010 Domo backpack

The much anticipated Domo backpack. It is pretty dope. I can't wait to use it. So soft...definitely not Seattle-proof. :/

Today was spent sleeping (yay!). And later visiting a few high school teachers. I also discovered cable in my house. So, I watched a movie...bad Jessica. Bad!

Reconnecting

December 17, 2010 | RC Lounge

While I was in the RC studying for Chinese, a "tech guy" came in and took away our two old PCs. Then I went to Chinese, and then I joined a group of EEPers having bubble tea at Oasis. When we came back, they put new computers in place. They're shiny and run Windows 7 Pro.

No Internet, though. They took away our cables and said they'll install wireless cards over break, or something like that.

GTX460

for December 16, 2010

My dad and I went to Frys and got this graphics card for my computer. But it didn't fit. So my dad is going to return it.

I should have taken a picture of the card itself, not just the box, though. It looked like a tank.

Rug

December 15, 2010 | RC Lounge

We got a new rug! I was studying for CSE (see my laptop?) when a van with IKEA stuff came in. We got two rugs like this one, another bigger rug for the TS classroom, a plant for the lounge, and some dishes. So we replaced the rug here, but left the other spot as is for now - you can see the replacement in the back corner.

Which reminds me: I need to go to IKEA to get a light for my trophy cabinet.

Bus

for December 14, 2010 | Montlake Freeway Station Westbound

This was an accident - I got on the 255, got off at Evergreen trying to transfer to a university-bound bus, realized that there weren't really any anytime soon, and got on another downtown bus. But it was the 545, and they just got new buses! It was shiny on the inside and smelled funny, like a new bus.

Stations

December 13, 2010 | By the Houghton Southbound 255 stop

They put new signs on the fire stations in Kirkland - so far I've seen the North Rose Hill one and this one. The sign lights up in the dark, and there's a board that displays the day, and temperature.

Yoshis

December 16, 2010 Yoshi Slippers

Came home finally! So much stress in the past few weeks, it was ridiculously! There is still work for me to do which I may or may not do. I promised I would, so I guess I should get around to it.

In my parents' room, I found YOSHI SLIPPERS and a DOMO BACKPACK. Incredible! My cousin owns an anime shop, so my mom bought these things to give her support. Ahhhhh! She's so innately awesome that she picked just the right things. I look ridiculously awesome (also, awesomely ridiculous) while supporting the backpack and wearing the slippers.

Farewells

December 15, 2010 Jen and Tiff

So, today, I said good-bye to everyone. Tiffany left in the morning. Having pushed two beds together, the three of us had a sleep over. Unfortunately, we went to sleep very late (~3 or ~4), so there was not much time for talking. Jen left in the afternoon, and Peter left at night.

Good-bye to Jen! And good luck in Guatemala! I know she will visit me while I'm doing my Masters, but it is strange as it marks the beginning of the end of undergrad life when all our new close friends leave to go separate ways.

Popping

December 14, 2010 Office Party

I think this was a holiday/farewell party. Nadine is entering the real world. Here she is popping the champagne bottle, about to leave her mark in the ceiling above. The party was on Wednesday...I'm getting a bit anachronistic.

Shabu

December 13, 2010 Shabu shabu ingredients

This is from December 14, following the pain of my exams!! On Monday, I just had an exam in the morning, and then, I passed out for a few hours before resuming studying for my next exam. Shabu shabu is basically Japanese hotpot (an idea stolen for the Chinese). It means "swish swish". People looooove this stuff. There was quite a wait. For $17, I thought it was meh. The beef was really good, but I don't think the whole meal was worth that much. Plus, the people felt a bit pushy, understandable because they wanted to get the next costumers seated. Still...

Presents

December 12, 2010 Presents!

Nothing new here. I spent all day Sunday studying for my finals... Here are the beautiful presents from Saturday! There are some decoy presents under the tree, too, that were there initially for decoration.

Party

December 11, 2010 Dance Party

We had a holiday party on Saturday. There was good food. We did a combined party with WuShu Nation. So, there were quite a few people. Dance had a Secret Santa exchange. Presents overwhelmed the little tree. I got a spatula man. It was pretty cool. I have been needing a spatula. He has bendy arms. People at my house have been abusing/playing with him.

Neighbors

December 12, 2010

These are our neighbors. Their electricity bill for December will be higher than ours (unless we actually do put more lights up).

It's been raining more today. And this morning we were off the power grid for a bit more than two hours. But my mom called immediately called to report the outage, and it was quickly fixed. The people just a block South are on another branch - last I checked, it was still dark beyond those trees.

Lights

December 11, 2010

The lights on our house. We need more for the tree, maybe something for the driveway, something for the lawn to the left, and another set on the upper roof edge - but that would require getting up on the roof - we're not there yet.

It's been raining day and night last few days. Getting to CTF wasn't fun.

Presents

December 10, 2010 | RC Lounge

Someone - one of the TSers, I think - left presents for the TAs. They're so shiny!

Big day today: finding out I'm not in the play and being unhappy about it, cramming for Chinese, taking the Chinese final, stressing about the Chinese final at Yunnie's, then being completely relaxed at Kevin's recital and the following dinner.

I want to play this. Beethoven was a genius.

Terrabyte

December 9, 2010

My dad bought a 1-TB hard drive from Costco since his 250-GB one no longer fit all our pictures. That white box is our home and web server, and it's in the process of backing up. Pictures are irreplaceable, so a backup is necessary. When I was in Hungary, I kept my photos backed up on the netbook and my external drive (had to delete some of the ones on the netbook, though, when that ran out of space), and had another backup kept with a friend.

He asked me if I had any use for a 250-GB hard drive. I told him my 500-GB one still has plenty of space. Ha ha, technology.

Doorboard

December 8, 2010 | Padelford C-Wing main entrance

This picture is actually taken on the 8th, and so are the next two pictures taken on the right days! There was a board in place of the door in Padelford. No idea how that happened.

On Wednesday I finally checked in my CSE lab, had the final real math class, etc. No more worrying about CS, hopefully. Not too worried about it for the final. Math and Chinese are different.

Bookstand

December 7, 2010

I actually took this picture a while ago. See my new bookstand? There's a big plastic thing on the back for adjusting the angle. The color doesn't exactly match my desk (which is Light Dragonwood, by the way), but the texture is very similar.

I'm liking this bookstand a lot so far.

Horns

December 10, 2010 Chris and Simon of The Agonist

Presentation today...it went okay. Not graded. Hurray!

Arrrrgghhh, after I looked back at this picture, I realized that they were selling merch!! I had intended to buy a CD from them, but I totally didn't notice because they were sharing a table with another band. And I got distracted by their familiar faces. Stopping to take a picture, I didn't even notice the shirts behind us! It's funny though because the only reason I saw them was because I was looking for their table. Ironic? No. Just being stupid.

Oh and what a great night for timing! I got a picture with Alissa from The Agonist as well and Mark from Epica all of which probably wouldn't have happened if I hadn't slowly gone to and come out of the bathroom. It is rumored that, usually, if you stick around after a show, you can see the band members. I figured it wouldn't be difficult to get pictures with The Agonist because they actually aren't that famous yet in the metal scene.

Agonist

December 9, 2010 The Agonist tears it up on stage

So, today was actually my first final. It went pretty well considering I only spent 7 or 8 hours studying for it.

Alissa is the singer of The Agonist. She's kind of amazing because she has blue hair, and she has an amazing growl (what is known as screaming for those unfamiliar to metal). I love The Agonist because I find their lyrics interesting. They have a song called "Business Suits and Combat Boots" for which they have such an attractive music video. And a song called "Thank You, Pain" which is really artistically intriguing the way they use smooth and rough vocals. I actually don't really know what the song is about, but I love it!

My friend asked me, "Doesn't this kind of music make you sad?" Not at all. Though maybe sadness has played a role in what attracted me into metal...long story. It started with one pop rock band that lead to similar bands that eventually lead to metal. Haha,

Epica

December 8, 2010 Epica on stage

Of course, this comes from Tuesday...as will subsequent posts. I've been studying and working in my lab, so I haven't really had time to see anything beyond my papers.

That's Simone in the middle. She dressed very professional for the occasion. Head banging - awesome to see, awesome (though painful) to do.

Poster

December 7, 2010 Yesssss

EPICA! The concert I have been looking forward to ever since I found out they were doing a second tour! They came in February, but I was on Catalina. Ahhh, the concert was amazing. Just one local band. And then band (Blackguard from Montreal) after band (The Agonist from Montreal) after band (Scar Symmetry from Sweden) of melodic death metal culminating in EPICA from Netherlands!

Fans of Blackguard are so violent, partially because the singer told them to "circle around" or in other words, start moshing. I broke my necklace when I got pushed too hard. :( Such a small club, too. It's so lucky that I love metal. They have the best venues - nothing beats intimate concerts. I was so close to the stage that I touched Simone's hand and numerous guitars. The energy was immense, and we were packed so close together it was like a never-ending, though thoroughly enjoyable, earthquake. Erin came with me. We both had such a blast.

Tommy

December 6, 2010 Tommy the Chipotle Trojan

This is Tommy Trojan wrapped with a burrito. I'm sure the duct tape was gone by Sunday, but I'm late with posts as usual...

All week long, he is guarded by the Trojan Knights. I don't really know what they do, other than protect Tommy once a year.

Companions

December 5, 2010 Duct tape horse being checked out by live squirrel

It blew my mind when I found that there was a squirrel perfectly in my shot, perfectly looking at the horse. The squirrels around my bio building (that's AHF in the background) are interesting. I guess it's all campus squirrels; they all act so human.

The horse is wrapped up to prevent vandalism. It was Conquest week which culminated in the USC vs UCLA game.

Decorations

December 4, 2010

I realized how fitting the menorahs were, besides the fact that Hannukah started on the 1st. Khoir Practice used to be called Kosher Pig. They actually started in the spring semester of my freshmen year. I think they changed the name of the group because too many people thought it was a Jewish group. Interestingly, instead, they are the most Asian a cappella group.

Tannenbaum

December 3, 2010 Christmas Tree in the United University Church

My friend, Devin, who is finishing a semester early is in an a cappella group (Khoir Practice). So, I went to her concert. It's amazing. I think this semester is the first time I've gotten to know her much better. She is so sweet!

Jen will be leaving soon, too. College is ending soon. Sometimes I feel like a senior, a graduate student even, but other days, college feels so new.